The present invention relates to a user interface designed for use in a computer program known as WordPerfect InForms, in particular an interface used for creation of calculation sequences. WordPerfect InForms is a software product that provides the capability of designing and maintaining elaborate electronic and printed forms. Its Designer component, in which the present invention is incorporated, makes extensive use of real-time decisions. For example, the user may wish to extract information required in a form from a database, but only if that information meets certain criteria at the time it is requested. Also, the user may wish to make choices concerning how to analyze, summarize or display information depending on circumstances that cannot be anticipated.
Mathematical and logical expressions to accomplish such goals can be both powerful and complex. Such expressions have been traditionally created by mathematicians, computer programmers or engineers, through the use of logical AND and OR statements, assignment statements and parentheses. The ability to make multiple levels of decisions with branching, using the notion of logical AND and OR in conjunction with other logical and arithmetic operators permits the user to create very powerful expressions. Such expressions, however, are also very complex.
The system and method described here reduce the complexity of creating such expressions by replacing those logical constructs with visual equivalents generated by the user in step-by-step fashion on the computer display screen. These constructs are of two types: decision boxes and result boxes. The former type contain IF, ELSE IF and SELECT statements; the latter contain DO and OTHERWISE statements. As will be seen, the visual clarity of the method of the present invention enables the user to more quickly grasp the possible results of his/her decisions, thus making it easier to create the calculations and find logical errors they may contain.
The nature of the invention will be made more apparent by the detailed discussion which follows and which refers to the following drawings: